Giants lose on walk-off replay reversal

PITTSBURGH -- Upon further review, the Giants believe they got jobbed Tuesday night at PNC Park.

In the first-ever replay challenge to actually decide the end of a game, the Giants lost 2-1 to the Pittsburgh Pirates on Tuesday night on a home-plate play that the pitcher, the catcher and the manager all thought was way too inconclusive to make baseball technological history.

With two outs and nobody on in the bottom of the ninth inning, Pirates outfielder Starling Marte hit a ball off the right field wall against Giants starter Tim Hudson, who had pitched brilliantly for 8﻿2/3 innings. Marte steamed all the way around to third, and when Ehire Adrianza's relay throw got by third baseman Pablo Sandoval, Marte bolted for home.

PITTSBURGH, PA - MAY 6: Starling Marte #6 of the Pittsburgh Pirates slides safely into home plate to score the game winning run in front of Buster Posey #28 during the ninth inning of the San Francisco Giants on May 6, 2014 at PNC Park in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. (Photo by Joe Sargent/Getty Images)
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Joe Sargent
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Sandoval played a carom off the grandstands and fired home. Marte slid in headfirst as catcher Buster Posey applied the tag on a bang-bang play.

Home plate umpire Quinn Wolcott called Marte out, but Pirates manager Clint Hurdle, after getting the thumbs-up from bench coach Jeff Banister and video coordinator Kevin Roach, challenged the call. And after a mere 1 minute, 14 second delay, it was ruled that Marte got his hand on home plate before Posey's tag and the Pirates suddenly were winners.

The Giants didn't think so, or at least weren't conceding it publicly. Well after the game, Giants manager Bruce Bochy was having his own tech crew cue up various angles of the play in the clubhouse. Ultimately, he walked away from the video machines befuddled and disgusted.

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"As much as I look at it, I don't see where it's conclusive," Bochy said.

That was the biggest Giants beef in the wake of the end of their six-game winning streak -- they thought the replay was too easily disputed to call the other way.

"It's frustrating, it's tough, it was a pretty close play," said Hudson. "I've seen closer plays not get turned over, so it's a little hard to swallow."

Posey agreed.

"Honest opinion, looking at it, it's really close," the catcher said. "Most of the plays that I've seen that could go either way usually stay with the call on the field.

"I don't know if they saw a different angle than we had, but I don't think so," Posey continued. "I think the best angle is the one where the shot's coming from behind me and you can see his hand and my glove. To me, it's a little conclusive whether my hand is on his chest before (his hand) hits the plate or not. That's just what I saw."

The Giants were also a bit miffed by the swiftness of the reversal. It was the fastest duration of the 12 replay challenges the club has been involved with this year, either by them or the opponent.

"I thought it was a no-brainer as quickly as they overturned it," Posey said. "But after seeing it, I was a little surprised at how fast they overturned it."

It was an agonizing loss for Hudson (4-2), who once again pitched beautifully. Before the controversial replay decision, he had allowed just four hits and a run, walked one and struck out five. The game, to be sure, seemed destined for extra innings after Pirates starter Charlie Morton matched Hudson pitch for pitch through the first eight innings.

Marte himself wasn't sure he could do what he did against Hudson.

"That pitcher is very difficult to hit because he has a lot of spin and he puts the ball wherever he wants," Marte said. "I didn't try to do too much. I just tried to put the ball in play."

Morton limited the Giants to just three hits over the first eight innings, and the only run they scored against him was unearned in the second inning. Brandon Belt, who reached base four times, singled, stole second and advanced to third on catcher Tony Sanchez's overthrow. Adrianza hit a sacrifice fly to center and the Giants were off to another good start.

But Pittsburgh answered in the bottom half of the second. Marte hit a one-out single to right, advanced to third on Ike Davis' single down the right field line and scored on a Sanchez groundout to third. It stayed tied until the climactic final play.

The Giants optioned pitcher Jake Dunning to Triple-A Fresno after just one day with the club and recalled pitcher George Kontos.

Bochy said that left-hander David Huff, on the disabled list with a quad strain, will tentatively begin a minor-league rehab on Thursday.